Domestic production of marine engines for Russian Navy

Russia should just pick few key people from Zoya mash in ukraine and hire them if they pay them more they will accept...ukraine is almost bankrupt anyway

Anyone with talent there has likely already left... or twiddling their thumbs doing nothing.

A few people from the Ukraine wont solve their problems with these systems, it is not a lack of a few good engineers that is the problem.

China might get some more orders for diesel engines then.

They want domestic products, so I doubt it.

But why not just expand capacity at existing government facilities or develop new engines instead of getting this old company?

As they mention there are not a lot of companies in the position to make decent modern engines, and this old company is one of the few that can.

We can blame the private contractors all we want, but without large enough government batch orders, or low rate loans, it is hard to expect them to ramp up production rate.
From their point of view investing in increasing capacity is a risky investment and this lawsuit only proves that.

Blame is pointless. With no bulk orders there was never going to be large capacity production potential... with a future planned out for lots of military ships and also for lots of commercial ships as well then nationalisation of the company and mass expansion makes good sense....

The government should have just switched to a different supplier for future ships without disturbing their existing production.

If there were multiple suppliers then they would have ordered engines from all of them...

This is supposed to be the engine in question. Why not just replace this with a gas turbine? It seems monstrously complicated.

Efficiency and reliability spring to mind, and probably fuel burn rate too...

An helicopter engine should have about the same power level.

And Klimov have mastered production of an upgraded standard helicopter engine of improved performance for the Ka-50/52/32/31 and Mi-8/17/24/28 helicopters and have those in production right now...

This seems like a pretty serious issue, they cant just shut down the only marine engine manufacturer in Russia, and why is Putin not intervening?

They are not shutting them down, they are terminating an existing contract and asking for a refund for money paid for products they clearly didn't get.

Both Kolomna and Zvezda are commercial companies and had difficulties ramping up production to suit the government's needs.

Understandable.... going from very few, to everything needing engines is a significant change...

Not having a lot of work on makes it unlikely they will have invested in expanding their production base for a massive increase in demand... perhaps the contracts should have taken that into account and included investment to massively increase hiring and production facilities and tooling as well as ordering materials needed for making the products...

I still believe that Russia needs some central planning and organisation for diesel engines, for naval propulsion (medium speed, high speed and slow speed diesel), for automotive and possibly also for other applications.

Or maybe they don't need low, medium, and high, and just need perhaps high, but to generate electricity for electric drive motors, where the diesels are started up and run to charge the batteries and run the electric motors rapidly, but shut down for most of the time with much smaller motors topping up the batteries... perhaps even solar panels...

BTW is there any way russia could smuggle western diesel engines for the karakurt through india or china?

No. Does not solve the problem. Better to spend some money and develop improved engines of domestic design... some sort of modern hybrid perhaps...

New metals technology with temperature resistant Aluminium and other new alloys, they should be able to design new power generation sets, but honestly it is probably more useful to work on electric motor technology.

Is the engine they produce the d500?or maybe the navy has decided the d500 is better?
Aren't these engines much better?

http://www.kolomnadiesel.com/en/catalog/diesels/section_detail.php?SECTION_ID=44

Two top managers of Zvezda corporation from St Petersburg were arrested

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4327650.html

Like I always said, boot up the ass maximum pressure no mercy

Only way to fix things

Also, guess what? They owned a Tesla. It seems that all Tesla owners are universally shitheads

PapaDragon wrote:
Two top managers of Zvezda corporation from St Petersburg were arrested

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4327650.html

Like I always said, boot up the ass maximum pressure no mercy

Only way to fix things

Also, guess what? They owned a Tesla. It seems that all Tesla owners are universally shitheads

Yeah it worked so well for decades in Russia lol. Those methods only work on ass lickers. You will never get the best with these methods. The best way is to motivate people, enable them and reward them for good performance.

mnztr wrote:...Yeah it worked so well for decades in Russia lol. Those methods only work on ass lickers. You will never get the best with these methods. The best way is to motivate people, enable them and reward them for good performance.

I will just quote hoom here about success of Amur shipyard with 20380 series:

hoom wrote:Took some time, bit of threats, legal cases & (I believe?) some management arrests but yeah Amur is positively pumping them out now.

mnztr wrote:

Yeah it worked so well for decades in Russia lol. Those methods only work on ass lickers. You will never get the best with these methods. The best way is to motivate people, enable them and reward them for good performance.

Those methods are not to get the best but to remove the worst, corrupted opportunist and foreign backed wreckers. Should have been done years ago.

ZoA wrote:

mnztr wrote:

Yeah it worked so well for decades in Russia lol. Those methods only work on ass lickers. You will never get the best with these methods. The best way is to motivate people, enable them and reward them for good performance.

Those methods are not to get the best but to remove the worst, corrupted opportunist and foreign backed wreckers. Should have been done years ago.

For sure when the rot is deep there needs to be a house cleaning, and corruption needs to be dealt with. But you have to give people a reason to do their best and not just show up.

mnztr wrote:...For sure when the rot is deep there needs to be a house cleaning, and corruption needs to be dealt with. But you have to give people a reason to do their best and not just show up.

They already have one, it's called paycheck

PapaDragon wrote:

mnztr wrote:...For sure when the rot is deep there needs to be a house cleaning, and corruption needs to be dealt with. But you have to give people a reason to do their best and not just show up.

They already have one, it's called paycheck

A shitty paycheck will only get you what you pay for.

mnztr wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:

mnztr wrote:...For sure when the rot is deep there needs to be a house cleaning, and corruption needs to be dealt with. But you have to give people a reason to do their best and not just show up.

They already have one, it's called paycheck

A shitty paycheck will only get you what you pay for.

They are free to f*ck off if they don't feel appreciated then, this is business not emotional therapy

Given their track record they are already grotesquely overpaid

Interesting that a guy moved here... he has an aussie accent but made billions doing something so he is able to do what he wants and he loves forumula 1 race cars so he set up here in New Zealand and has a team and has built his own race track to develop new cars and technology for racing.

The interesting thing is the business model... it is not intended as a franchise but everyone works for the same pay... how about that for revolutionary...

PapaDragon wrote:

mnztr wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:

mnztr wrote:...For sure when the rot is deep there needs to be a house cleaning, and corruption needs to be dealt with. But you have to give people a reason to do their best and not just show up.

They already have one, it's called paycheck

A shitty paycheck will only get you what you pay for.

They are free to f*ck off if they don't feel appreciated then, this is business not emotional therapy

Given their track record they are already grotesquely overpaid

Some do, like this guy https://red-aircraft.com/. An absolutely cracking V12 state of the art Aero diesel engine. Designed by a Russian, built now in Germany. How does this help Russia move ahead?

the older guys are  given skills in this industry. Where are they gonna *uck off to?

So if you believe in this approach, you end up with 3rd rate stuff. A huge percentage of young Russians want to leave. You can't really build a nation with this overhang. They need to look east to their former communist friends in China for inspiration.

GarryB wrote:Interesting that a guy moved here... he has an aussie accent but made billions doing something so he is able to do what he wants and he loves forumula 1 race cars so he set up here in New Zealand and has a team and has built his own race track to develop new cars and technology for racing.

The interesting thing is the business model... it is not intended as a franchise but everyone works for the same pay... how about that for revolutionary...

Well you know how many guys would work for free at this sort of thing? Look at all the skilled people that volunteer thousands of hours of their time to restore warbirds and military equipment. Some how this passion must be injected into the work, barring this financial incentives. Russia has been run by the stick for too long. Even when carrots were provided, leaders there beat you with the carrots lol.

mnztr wrote:Some do, like this guy https://red-aircraft.com/. An absolutely cracking V12 state of the art Aero diesel engine. Designed by a Russian, built now in Germany. How does this help Russia move ahead?

Company who’s main customer is Russia and is funded by Russia? Oh he definitely showed them  

mnztr wrote:the older guys are  given skills in this industry. Where are they gonna *uck off to?

They can f*ck off to wherever the f*ck they feel like f*king off

They should be grateful they aren't sued for damages and liability

mnztr wrote:So if you believe in this approach, you end up with 3rd rate stuff.

Which would be massive improvement over 4th rate stuff they currently are barely getting from these parasites  

mnztr wrote:Russia has been run by the stick for too long

Considering the results they were not applying stick often and hard enough

mnztr wrote:They need to look east to their former communist friends in China for inspiration

Bullets instead of sticks, boot down the throat, no mercy whatsoever and (finally) surveillance cameras? I definitely agree  

mnztr wrote:A huge percentage of young Russians want to leave.

And yet they are all still here

I guess having to actually work for food and pay your rent with real money is horrifying prospect indeed

Passion wont pay the rent.

The point is that this guy was paying everyone a living wage, rather than some too much and most not enough which is the normal pay scale.

All this talk of young talented and skilled Russians running away to the easy life in the west... it rings hollow... we hear about the same brain drain here in New Zealand where all our best and brightest we are told are all running away to bigger salaries and warmer weather in Australia... a bigger richer nation we can't really compete with.

Migration is natural and normal and if you think you can stop it you are an idiot... there is a saying that the grass is always greener on the other side of that fence and people are always going to believe that and want to look at that greener grass.

Of course reality is always different, but even if everything is not perfect quite often the plan will be to move to greener pastures and earn lots of money and then come home and settle down with a nice big wad of cash advantage over the people who stayed.

Right now it might be $30K for a new house in some places but when you go off and make your big money and come back in ten years time it wont be $30K for a new house anymore so your nest egg wont be as big as you were expecting, but you likely will still be ahead of the game... assuming you don't get murdered or can't get a job in the west.

All Russia can do is create opportunities in Russia with big construction jobs and high tech innovation and investing money in new businesses in Russia.

I have seen it lots of time... New Zealand is boring and is 20 years behind the rest of the world... you can earn big money in London or Australia or where ever... so they go and they have an exciting time and see bands that almost never come to New Zealand, and they live in places where they see famous people in the street and in shops and they think they are having a wonderful time living in a tiny box spending most of their entertainment money on booze and rent and just working building up that nest egg... with the added bonus of the exchange rate with pounds vs NZ dollars which is very much in favour of pounds of course.

Then they meet someone and get serious and start having kids and then they notice what the schools are like and all that knife crime and how dangerous it is and they think it is time to come home with their nest egg and bring their kids up in New Zealand because the same backwardness in terms of knife crime and drug and alcohol abuse is actually a good thing... ironically.

UEC will supply shipbuilders with about 20 M90FR gas turbine engines. 

Russian shipbuilders who fulfill a state contract for the construction of ships for the Russian Navy will receive about 20 M90FR gas turbine engines (GTE). Deliveries will be carried out by the United Engine Corporation (UEC).

The press service of the corporation on the eve of the opening of the International Naval Salon (MVMS-2021) in St. Petersburg reported that today the planned volume of deliveries of M90FR gas turbine engines for ships under construction for the Russian fleet is about 20 units. At the same time, it is emphasized that the delivery will take place within the stated time frame and in full.

At the same time, as the deputy General director of the corporation Viktor Polyakov told TASS in an interview, UEC has already developed a modification of the M90FR engine. According to him, two engines are currently manufactured, they have passed the necessary tests and are ready to be handed over to the customer. It is planned that this modification will be installed on the promising corvettes of the Project 20386.

At the same time, the corporation is working on the creation of a new marine engine with a capacity of 25 MW based on the M90FR. According to the deputy director - general of the UEC Yuri Shmotin, an engine of increased power (34 thousand hp) is being created. The corporation plans to develop ship engines with a capacity of 25-35 MW and 13 MW.

Source: https://topwar.ru/184334-odk-postavit-korablestroiteljam-okolo-20-gazoturbinnyh-dvigatelej-m90fr.html?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=group

The whole piece with the news above and some topics more:

The heart of the warships.

The heart of the warships. What are the prospects for the development of marine engine building in Russia

On the eve of the International Maritime Defense Show (IMDS-2021) in St. Petersburg, specialists from the United Engine Corporation (UEC, part of the Rostec state corporation) told TASS about the creation of power plants for the latest Russian ships

The construction of engines for warships in the ocean and sea zone is one of the key technologies - any modern navy (Navy) is unthinkable without reliable, powerful and efficient propulsion systems. Serial production of engines for corvettes and frigates largely determines the future prospects and directions of modernization of the Navy.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union focused on the development of marine propulsion engineering - the country produced its own power plants for all types of warships. Particular attention is paid to this field of mechanical engineering in Russia - after the collapse of the USSR, it was decided to create a Russian naval base for gas turbine construction. Already in 2006 and 2008, by order of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, experimental design work (R&D) was successfully completed to create domestic marine gas turbine engines: in particular, two marine gas turbine engines were developed - M75RU with a capacity of 7000 hp. and M70FRU with a capacity of 14,000 hp.

In 2014, the second stage of the program was launched to develop and master the manufacture of marine gas turbine engines (GTE) and gas turbine units. In particular, at the end of 2017, three R&D
projects were carried out at the UEC: • to develop a technology for serial production of an engine with a capacity of 27,500 hp. for use as part of gas turbine units (GTU) of displacement ships;
• on the development of a GTA based on the M70FRU-2 engine for hovercraft;
• on the development of a reversible GTE M70FRU-R for displacement ships.

"Within the framework of the existing scientific and technical groundwork and the results of the development work on the basic M70FRU gas turbine engine, new modifications of engines and units have been created in three years, which make it possible to completely replace the Ukrainian power plants for air-cushion ships and reversible engines in operation," TASS said Deputy General Director - General Designer of UEC Yuri Shmotin. "The development of a 27,500 hp gas turbine engine in serial production allows for the completion of the customer's main power plants and makes it possible to create units for promising ships," he added.

In three years, not only three most complex works were completed, but also technical re-equipment of the enterprise, technological preparation of production, construction of a bench base for testing marine engines and units. At the end of 2017, design work and construction of the assembly and test complex were successfully completed.

"As of today, UEC has created a line of marine gas turbine engines with a capacity of 7,000 to 27,500 hp, which in the short and medium term covers the fleet's needs for gas turbine engines for all under construction and prospective ships of various classes," said UEC Deputy General Director Viktor Polyakov. Thus, UEC has competencies in design (development), serial production, warranty, after-sales service and repair of marine-grade GTEs and units based on them.
Today, UEC has created a line of marine gas turbine engines with a capacity of 7,000 to 27,500 hp, which, in the short and medium term, covers the fleet's needs for gas turbine engines for all under construction and prospective ships of various classes.
Victor Polyakov
Deputy General Director of UEC

At present, UEC has mastered the production of marine engines for all surface ships of the Russian Navy with gas turbine power plants. "In particular, the corporation is ready to provide the Navy with engines for use in air-cushion landing ships of projects 12061 and 12322, corvettes of project 20386, frigates of projects 22350 / 22350M and 11356, as well as ships in operation during their modernization," UEC.
Engines for frigates

For the latest frigates of Project 22350, the corporation has mastered the production of the M90FR gas turbine engine, which is used as part of the M55R diesel-gas turbine unit. "In 2020, UEC delivered the first two M55R units for the frigate Admiral Golovko to Severnaya Verf. To date, the third unit for the frigate Admiral Isakov has been successfully tested and the fourth unit is being tested to complete this ship," UEC, noting that the fourth diesel-gas turbine unit is planned for delivery after the completion of bench tests in July-August 2021. Project 22350 frigates "Admiral Golovko" and "Admiral Isakov" are the third and fourth ships of the series.

It is assumed that the M90FR will become the basis for advanced marine engines. In particular, the UEC is considering options for creating a 25 MW engine based on the M90FR. Shmotin said that the results will also be a scientific and technical groundwork for the development of engines in the power range of 25-35 MW.

The corporation stressed that the corporation can fully supply the state customer with GTE and GTA in the required volumes. "For today, the planned volume of supplies is about 20 M90FR gas turbine engines," the UEC reported.

It is worth noting that ships with foreign-made engines can also be equipped with M90FR during re-engining. “However, taking into account the“ age ”of the ships and the need to attract serious funds for the modernization of the main power plants and control systems of the ship, such a decision was not made, - the corporation says.

The corporation also prepared for the after-sales service of M90FR engines - for this purpose, a separate subsidiary was created. According to experts, the M90FR engine is not inferior to foreign analogues and corresponds to the world trends in the development of 4th generation marine GTEs.

Work is underway to create the latest power plants. In particular, a project is underway to develop a gas turbine unit for a promising frigate. The main engine will be the M70FRU, and the afterburner - the M90FR, developed by the UEC.
New corvettes - new engines

For use in the power plant of promising corvettes of project 20386, UEC developed a modification of the M90FR engine. "Two engines have been manufactured, successfully tested and ready to be handed over to the customer," the press service added.

In addition, the corporation has created a number of unified M70FRU engines with a capacity of 8000–10000 MW* for ships of various purposes - corvettes, small rocket ships, small artillery ships, as well as ships with dynamic support (amphibious assault ships on an air cushion).

The basic modification M70FRU was developed in 2008 (according to the results of the MVI, the product documentation was assigned the letter "O1"). Initially, this engine was intended for project 20380 corvettes, however, these ships were then equipped with diesel power plants (including those of foreign production), so no orders were received for the supply of serial M70FRU engines.

Within the framework of the state import substitution program, in the period from 2014 to 2017, UEC created two modifications of this engine - the M70FRU-R GTE with a reversible power turbine (for surface ships) and the M70FRU-2 GTE with a forward power outlet (for air-cushion landing craft). As part of this work, new, more modern engine systems were introduced on the engine - a local automated control system, a vibration diagnostics system, fuel system units, etc. During the development of the M70FRU and its modifications, technologies were applied that correspond to current global trends - according to experts, this power plant belongs to the fourth generation and is at the level of foreign analogues.

Based on the results of the work performed, the readiness of serial production of new modifications of the M70FRU GTE was confirmed, and several M70FRU-2 experimental delivery engines have already been manufactured for subsequent use as part of the 12061 Murena and 12322 Zubr air-cushion landing craft. In addition, the basic modification of the M70FRU GTE, taking into account the above modernization, is planned for use as part of the main gas turbine unit of a promising frigate.
Marine engines and production diversification

At the moment, UEC has created a dual-fuel modification of the M90FR engine, which may be in demand in the gas industry, for example, as part of drilling platforms.

On the basis of the M70FRU, a civil marine engine - E70 / 8RD - was also developed. "On the basis of E70 / 8RD, the SGTG-8 gas-turbine electric generator has been created," Shmotin said. Both E70 / 8RD and SGTG-8 have passed all the necessary tests and are ready for serial production.

UEC is ready to supply all of the aforementioned civilian engines, the corporation added.
Rostec is consistently implementing programs for the development of modern engines of all types. The creation of offshore gas turbine power plants and units is a science-intensive high-tech process. Only a few manufacturers in the world have such competencies. We are ready to meet the demand of Russian shipbuilders for new power plants
Vladimir Artyakov
First Deputy General Director of Rostec State Corporation

Development prospects

UEC is already forming a scientific and technical groundwork for the creation of a 5th generation marine engine. "As a groundwork, we mean the results of the implementation of a preliminary project for the development of a 25 MW marine engine with a low-emission combustion chamber of marine design and the development of new high-temperature corrosion-resistant alloys," Shmotin informed, adding that the corporation is also creating a marine power plant of increased power - in particular, within the framework of an agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, a preliminary project is being implemented to develop an engine with a capacity of 34,000 hp. (25 MW). As priority directions for further development of ship engines, UEC singles out the creation of engines with a capacity of 25–35 and 13 MW.

Along with the creation of new marine engines, the modernization of their development and production processes is being carried out. Since December 2020, within the framework of an agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, research work has been carried out to create a digital twin of a marine gas turbine engine and a gearbox. "The deadline for the completion of work is October 2023. In the process of implementing this project, UEC must obtain an operating technology / platform for creating digital twins, which will be used in all subsequent developments of new products," Shmotin said.

Additive technologies are increasingly used in the design of engines - the first positive experience of their application in the field of marine engines was obtained during the creation of the M70FRU-R engine.
Currently, UEC is already using domestic materials created using additive technologies and not inferior in their characteristics to foreign counterparts.
UEC

In addition, the development and application of new materials is being carried out to create thermal barrier coatings for the blades of the hot part of the engine, which make it possible to increase the gas temperature in front of the turbine and thereby increase the power of the power plant. "Within the framework of the agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, research work is being carried out aimed at developing new high-temperature corrosion-resistant alloys," Shmotin summed up.

https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/11715059

* this value must be wrong

Yeah it should be 8-10 MW for the M70FRU.

It is interesting they are talking about using a combination of the M70FRU with M90FR in a frigate. The only time I saw that combination being mentioned as possibly to be used was for the Admiral Grigorovich. But it makes no sense to make more of those when the Admiral Gorshkov design is proven. The four diesel combination on the 20380 also seems to work just fine. It is cool that he just gave the information on deliveries though. Perhaps they will launch the fourth Gorshkov frigate this year?

Rostec is developing an engine for a promising Russian frigate

SAINT PETERSBURG, June 23. / TASS /. United Engine Corporation Rostec (UEC) is developing a power plant for a promising Russian frigate. This was announced to TASS during the International Maritime Defense Show (IMDS-2021) by the chief designer for marine gas turbine engines, Alexander Ponedelin.

"Work is underway to create the latest power plants. In particular, a project to develop a gas turbine unit for a promising frigate is underway," the press service informed.

As noted in the corporation, the power plant will include the latest units developed by the UEC. "The M70FRU will be used as the main engine, and the M90FR developed by the UEC will be used as the afterburner," Ponedelin added.

At present, the most modern Russian ships of the "frigate" class - Project 22350 frigates of the "Admiral Gorshkov" class - are equipped with power plants based on M90FR gas turbine engines.

lancelot wrote:Yeah it should be 8-10 MW for the M70FRU.

It is interesting they are talking about using a combination of the M70FRU with M90FR in a frigate. The only time I saw that combination being mentioned as possibly to be used was for the Admiral Grigorovich. But it makes no sense to make more of those when the Admiral Gorshkov design is proven. The four diesel combination on the 20380 also seems to work just fine. It is cool that he just gave the information on deliveries though. Perhaps they will launch the fourth Gorshkov frigate this year?

They refer to the 22350M, they cannot keep the same propulsion of the regular ones for the enlarged version. The 10D49 is just 5200 hp, I think it makes full sense to replace it with the M70FRU and use the same M90FR as booster. This is a COGAG layout like the Udaloys, only more powerful ( they use 2-shaft COGAG, 2 × D090 6.7 MW and 2 × DT59 16.7 MW gas turbines)

LMFS wrote:They refer to the 22350M, they cannot keep the same propulsion of the regular ones for the enlarged version. The 10D49 is just 5200 hp, I think it makes full sense to replace it with the M70FRU and use the same M90FR as booster. This is a COGAG layout like the Udaloys, only more powerful ( they use 2-shaft COGAG, 2 × D090 6.7 MW and 2 × DT59 16.7 MW gas turbines)

I also thought about that. But shouldn't it be a destroyer instead of a frigate? Then again they are calling the Marshal Shaposhnikov a frigate too.

lancelot wrote: Then again they are calling the Marshal Shaposhnikov a frigate too.

Exactly. They call the Lider a destroyer, so it is no wonder that the 22350M is a frigate for them

PhSt wrote:Rostec is developing an engine for a promising Russian frigate

SAINT PETERSBURG, June 23. / TASS /. United Engine Corporation Rostec (UEC) is developing a power plant for a promising Russian frigate. This was announced to TASS during the International Maritime Defense Show (IMDS-2021) by the chief designer for marine gas turbine engines, Alexander Ponedelin.

"Work is underway to create the latest power plants. In particular, a project to develop a gas turbine unit for a promising frigate is underway," the press service informed.

As noted in the corporation, the power plant will include the latest units developed by the UEC. "The M70FRU will be used as the main engine, and the M90FR developed by the UEC will be used as the afterburner," Ponedelin added.

At present, the most modern Russian ships of the "frigate" class - Project 22350 frigates of the "Admiral Gorshkov" class - are equipped with power plants based on M90FR gas turbine engines.

A benefit of shifting to domestic production. When you depend on imports, you also depend on exporters to offer new designs. When you run the production lines
and do the R & D, then you have options. Something free trade zealots will never understand.

Also as mentioned these engines can be used as generators, a mention of using one on oil rigs, but you could just as easily fit them to a large nuclear powered ship as emergency electrical power generator for instance.

they really need to electrify and switch to the power plants from the Ice Breakers. This way all they will be building is generators, diesel, turbine, nuclear, who cares. Since they can build the motors domestically they should just ramp this up. Come up with a standard modular gearbox that is scalable and be done with it. Min 2 screws, medium 3 screws and really large 4 screws.